Device for regulating the quantity delivered by a tuft feeder to cards



Oct. 28. 1969 w. JEANMAIRE 3,474,501

I DEVICE FOR REGULATING THE QUANTITY DELIVERED BY A TUFT FEEDER To CARDS Filed Nov. 21, L967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1 [a I? ?ll1ljb A 16c 4 Md m 10 lg m 70 r 7d 76 1 1 a M I g 12d Ild In van for \A/uJt er nmajre Httorneys Oct. 28, 1969 w. JEANMAIRE 3,474,501

1 DEVICE FOR REGULATING THE QUANTITY DELIVERED BY A TUFT FEEDER TO CARDS Filed Nov. 21, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fly. 3

\Mmlkcrjwn Ina-ire 7: s ag f-$-g United States Patent Office 3,474,501 Patented Oct. 28, 1969 Int. 01. Dlllg 15/02 US. Cl. 19-105 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DIscLosURE Tuft feeder-card apparatus having means for weighing the card sliver produced per unit length and controlling the feed of fibers in relation to this weight.

The present invention relates to a device for regulating the quantity of fiber delivered by a tuft feeder to cards.

In order to maintain the quantity of slivers delivered by cards constant, it is of decisive importance to provide a uniform feed of material to the carding machine. If the cards are fed with picker laps, the fed material is sulficiently uniform since these laps are themselves, as a rule, already sufiiciently uniform. On the other hand, if cards are fed with fiber material from a tuft feeder via one or more hoppers, sufficient uniformity of the card slivers can be maintained only for short periods of time at most. However, it is not possible to maintain the sliver quantity constant over longer periods of production, for instance over several hours, because the fiber material, by its inherent nature, is not homogeneous and thus the specific weight of the columns of fiber material present in the hoppers does not remain constant over long periods of time.

Attempts have been made to avoid this disadvantage by feeding the slivers supplied by a group of cards to a common control drawing frame, i.e., a drawing frame which measures the weight of the total slivers over a predetermined unit of length and counteracts for deviation from the proper weight by a corresponding change in the draft.

Such control drawing frames, however, are not able to compensate for variations in sliver quantity over a long period of time, since all slivers worked simultaneously in it consist of fiber material which has been submitted to the cards at practically the same time and which are therefore not as a rule substantially different, while this value can change in the same manner for all cards over a period of hours. Furthermore, installing a control drawing frame involves considerable expense. Still further, the delivery speed of the known control drawing frames is, in many cases, not sufiicient in relation to the high output of modern carding machines.

In contradistinction of the prior art, one object of the present invention is to assure a constant quantity of slivers over long periods of production and, for example periods of several hours or days, in a dependable manner and at small expense.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel apparatus assembly for producing long runs of substantially constant quantity or slivers.

Other and additional objects of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of this entire specification including the claims and the drawing hereof.

In accord with and fulfilling these objects, one aspect of this invention includes a device for measuring off a predetermined length of sliver produced by a carding machine; a device for introducing the sliver into cans of the same empty weight; a scale for weighing the cans; and a device which controls the quantity of fiber delivered to the card which is activated by the scale. It is within the scope of this invention to provide a multiplicity of carding machines and to associate a scale and controller with only one of the cards whereby to control the operation of all the carding machines. In this case, the delivery of fiber to all cards will be controlled in the same manner by the device which is connected with the scale.

The arrangement can, in accordance with the invention, also be such that a plurality of cards are arranged upstream of a drawing frame which drawing frame processes together all the slivers delivered by said cards. In such case, the said drawing frame is provided with a device for measuring off a predetermined length of sliver, with a device for introducing the sliver into cans of the same empty weight and with a scale for weighing the cans. The quantity of fiber delivered to the cards can be varied in various different manner, for instance: by changing the thickness of the supply of material, such as by changing the width of the hopper by adjusting one or both vertical walls of the hopper; by changing the density of the supply of material, such as by changing the height of the column of material in the hopper; in the case of vibratory chutes, by changing the intensity of vibration; in the case of chutes with pneumatic compacting, by adjusting the static air pressure acting on the column of fiber material or by adjusting the intensity of the pneumatic pulses which act on the column of material; or by changing the draw-in speed of the cards.

Understanding of this invention will be facilitated by reference to the drawing in which:

FIGS. 1 and 3 are schematic views showing two different embodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 2 and 4 are longitudinal sections through the two different types of systems shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

Referring now to the drawing, and in particular to FIG. 1, there are shown four carding machines 1a-1d, associated with hoppers 2a-2d which have fiber tufts pneumatically fed thereto through a column conduit 3 by means of a blower 4. The blower receives the tufts from a tuft opening machine 5. The fibers pass from the hoppers held, for instance in the manner described in connection with the description of ,FIGS. 2 and 4, to the cards la-ld. The webs 6a-6d produced from the fibers by the cards are each combined by a sliver funnel 7a-7d to form a card sliver 8tl8d. Each roving 8a-8d is fed to a turntable 11a-11d through which it is introduced into a cam 12a-12d. Each card la-ld is provided with a measuring device 7' which, after the passage of a predetermined length of the sliver 6a6d, effects a change of the cans 12a-12d so that the same length of roving is always introduced into a can. All cans have the same empty weight.

A scale 13 is arranged alongside the turntable 11a as sociated with the card 1a in such a manner that a filled can 12a can easily be brought onto the scale 13. In FIG. 1, a filled can 12a is shown on the scale 13. The end of the card sliver 8a is shown still connected to the beginning of the card sliver being filled into the can 12a. Empty cans 12a"12d" stand ready to take the place of the cans 12a-12d as soon as the latter are filled and have been brought onto the scale 13. Upon removal of the can 12a from the scale, the card sliver breaks off between it and the can 12a.

The scale 13 is provided with a device 14 which actuates one or another contact when the weight of the can exceeds a predetermined desired weight by a certain amount in positive or negative direction. The actuation of such contact causes current pulses corresponding thereto to be transmitted by a line 15 to the control devices 16a 16d.

FIG. 2 shows the hopper 2a in a longitudinal section in which the conduit 3 appears in cross-section. The hopper 2 is shown in rectangular cross-section. The one 1ongitudinal wall 21 of the hopper 2 is rotatable about a hinge 22. Its position is determined by a rack 23 connected with it and with a pinion 24 which engages in the rack. The pinion can be driven from an electric motor via appropriate gearing which can be arranged in a common housing 25. The current for driving this electric motor is connected by the device 16a in such a manner that the motor receive current when the scale 13 measures a weight of the filled can 12a which deviates by more than a certain predetermined amount in one direction. The time for which the current is connected and the direction of the current corresponds to the amount of this deviation and the direction of the deviation, respectively. Accordingly, the cross-section of the lower part of the hopper 2a is reduced in size when the scale 13 shows too high a weight, which means that the weight of the card sliver of constant length contained in the weighed can 12a is too great; similarly, the cross-section of the lower part of the hopper 2a is increased correspondingly in accordance with the amount of any possible underweight of the measured card sliver. The hoppers 2b, 2c and 2d are changed in the same manner as the hopper 2a.

At the lower end of the hopper shown in FIG. 2 there is arranged a pair of driven removal rollers 26, 27 which feed the tufts to the card 1a in the form of a web moving along a downplate 28. The Web is fed by a feed roller 29 which is driven in synchronism with the feed roller 26, 27 to the licker-in 1a of the card 1a.

By means of the scale 13, the speed of the rollers 26, 27, 29 can also be increased or reduced via the line corresponding to the underweight or overweight of the card sliver weighed.

The arrangement shown in FIG. 3 differs from that shown in FIG. 1 by the fact that all card slivers 8a-8d of the cards 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d are fed to a common drawing frame 10. The scale 13 is arranged downstream of the drawing frame 10 which has a length measuring device 10' for the roving 8 and causes the advancing of the cans 12, 12', 12" as soon as a card sliver 8' of predetermined length has been introduced into the can 12a. The can filled with the card sliver of this length is then brought onto the scale 13.

The control signal which i given off by the scale 13 in the apparatus 14 is fed to the control devices 16a-16d in the same manner as in the case of the arrangement shown in FIG. 1.

The change in the feed of the tufts to the cards which is caused by the scale 13 can in principle be effected in any desired manner. For example, in the case of hoppers in which the mass of fibers is compacted by vibration or by air pressure, the intensity of the vibration or of the air pressure can be changed in a manner which corresponds to the underweight or overweight determined by the scale.

In the case of the hopper arrangements shown in FIG. 4, the hopper 2 is fed by the conduit 3 is provided with openings 30 for the emergence of air and is connected at its lower end to a feed roller 31 which is slowly rotated by a motor 35. A porcupine roll 32 is located below the feed roller 31. This roller rotates at higher speed, opens the fiber tuft fed to it from the feed roller 31, and feeds them into a hopper 33. Delivery rollers 36, 37 a down-plate 38 and a card feed roller 39 are located at the lower end of the hopper 33 and serve to feed the fibers to the card 1. These rollers and downplate corresponding to the parts 26-29 in FIG. 2. Air is pumped intermittently into the hopper 33 by means of a flap 42 which is driven from a motor 40 via crank rod 41. The air compacts the mass of fibers present in said hopper. Air outlet openings 34 are provided for the emergence of the air in the vicinity of the lower end of the hopper 33.

A diaphragm 43, provided by means of a pin 44 with a swingable tongue 45 which bears a contact at its end is positioned in at least one longitudinal wall of the hopper 33. The mating contact is provided on another swingable tongue 46. The position of swing of the tongue 46 can be adjusted by means of a pin 47. This pin 47 is adjustable in its longitudinal direction by means of an electrically driven control device 16 which is connected to the line 15 so that the control device 16 displaces the tongue 46 in accordance with the weight determined by the scale 13. The two contact tongues 45 and 46 lie in the circuit of a switch 35' of the drive motor 35 in such a manner that the otherwise constant peripheral speed of the feed roller 31 is reduced when the air pressure in the hopper 33 exceeds a predetermined value, in which connection this is regulated by means of the device 16 in accordance with the weight determined by the scale 13. The arrangement can also be such that the switch 35' controls the driving of the rolls 36, 37, 39.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus comprising a multiplicity of carding machines, each fed from a separate tuft feeder, which tuft feeders are each fed from tuft opening and conveyor chute means, and which carding machines produce card slivers; the improvement which comprises providing weighing means operatively associated with at least one of said carding machines for receiving a container having a predetermined length of card sliver from one of said carding machines therein and weighing such, and providing means for moving at least one side of the chute for varying the cross-section of said tuft feeders responsive to the weight of said card sliver, whereby controlling and regulating the quantity of material fed by said tuft feeders to each of said carding machines.

2. The improved apparatus claimed in claim 1 including drafting means disposed between said carding machine and said weighing means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,889,030 6/1959 Mottet 177-60 XR 3,116,801 1/1964 Bauder et al 177--1 3,169,664 2/ 1965 Meinicke. 3,291,233 12/1966 Mayer 177-1 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 930,873 7/ 1963 Great Britain. 182,032 4/ 1964 U.S.S.R.

DORSEY NEWTON, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 19239 

